News 

The centre will have 30 staff when fully operational in August and provide research, consultation, training and development of cyber defences to allies looking for help to deal with cyber threats.

"We have seen in Estonia that a cyber attack can swiftly become an issue of national security. Cyber attacks can cripple societies," says NATO spokesman James Appathurai.

While some analysts see "cyber war" as one of the world's emerging security risks, many NATO nations are reluctant to explicitly recognise it for fear that such attacks could become grounds for invoking the alliance's mutual defence clause - the pledge to defend other allies under attack.

Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Spain have agreed to help fund and staff the centre in Estonia, the state which last year faced weeks of attacks on its internet structure after a row with Russia.